The Silverback magnetic glove is basically a fingerless glove with a big-ass magnet slapped on the back of it. We can see uses for this; it’s always cool to have a readily-available place to store a few metallic odds and ends.

One concern: if you’re doing automotive work, we could see that big-ass magnet pulling your hand towards every stray piece of steel in the engine bay — of which there’s a great deal nowadays. And that bulky magnet strapped to your fist might prove to be a tight fit — especially with  nuts and bolts along for the ride.

Of course, a different arena such as roofing might show the Silverback magnetic glove in a better light, though we don’t know many roofers who carry around fasteners anymore. But what do you think? Let us know in comments.

Street pricing starts at $7.

Magnetic Gloves [Silverback]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

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Now you have absolutely no excuse for owning both a pair of dirty work gloves for out in the shop and a pair of clean gloves for moving furniture and such. Harbor Freight, who normally offers these split-leather work gloves for $3, has them marked down to $1.

Buy early. Buy often.

Split Leather Work Gloves [Harbor Freight]

If you’ve ever been lacing up your boots on the way out the door (in a hurry) only to have them snap, you’ll love Bull Dog’s boot laces. They’re made of Kevlar – that’s right, the same DuPont wonder fabric they use in bullet-proof vests — for extra durability and longevity.

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Gloves only protect your hands if you have them on. The Glove Guard operates on the (true) principle that if you don’t have your gloves with you, you’re not likely to go and find them to put them on. The ‘Guard consits of two plastic clips held together with a breakaway synthetic cord. The larger clip attaches to your jacket, shirt, belt etc, the smaller part clips to the gloves.

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During our recent trip to Maker Faire in Austin we witnessed quite a few people wearing gloves in various applications – everything from fire protection to general work gloves. What we didn’t see the entire time were fingerless gloves. We still see them on the shelves, and folks like Milwaukee still think they are useful for something around the jobsite.

What do you think? Are finger-free gloves still around for a reason, or are they only good cyclists and winchers on sailboats? Let us know in comments.

Fingerless Work Gloves [Milwaukee]
Street Pricing [Google Product Search]

To make your living on a roof, you need two things: super-human ankles and traction. You’re on your own for the former, but Cougar Paws can help in the grip department! A dense, fibrous-mat sole is exactly what you want for a sure-footed grab on granular shingles, but the material wears out quickly. Cougar Paws have an elegant solution to the problem — Velcro! When you wear a sole out. just peel it off and stick a new one on.
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Both Sean and I are stuck doing miscellaneous crap this weekend, which means we don’t get our beloved shop time.  And we get cranky when we don’t get shop time.  So here’s the deal: 

Remember glove week?  We do — mainly because we’re up to our ears in gloves.  We’ll make you a deal.  If you’ll post pictures of your latest project — no matter how small — to the Toolmonger photo pool, we’ll pick our favorite one on Monday and send the person who posted it a pair of gloves.

Simple enough, right?

Toolmonger’s Photo Pool [Flickr]

As we wrap up glove week, we couldn’t help but include one pair of fingerless gloves: Milwaukee’s.  We suffered through our scary memories of 1980s fingerless driving gloves, reminding ourselves that these are work gloves — not something from 1983 that Eddie Murphy might wear — to bring you some quantitative test results.  Read on past the jump for our experiences and (of course) lots of photos. 

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Mac Tools’ M-PACT-2 heavy duty work gloves totally look like something Halo’s Master Chief would wear; they just bristles with extra hand “armor” and offer the coolest vibe of any glove we’ve seen this week.  But cool vibes don’t mean a thing if the gloves don’t perform.  Read on past the jump as we get busy with the M-PACTs and report back with our experiences and lots of photos.

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Our next contestant in glove week is Milwaukee’s Contractor glove. Unlike other tool-branded gloves, the Contractors don’t have any other logos adorning their stitch-work. It’s red and black all the way with these babies. Read on for the results as we run them through the Toolmonger “gauntlet.”

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It’s day two of glove week, and today we’re trying on Mac Tools’ Foose-branded work gloves.  One thing even the most casual observer will notice is that these gloves are stuffed full of logos.  Foose Designs, Mac Tools, and a little yellow tag on the edge seam that reads “Mechanix Wear” all fight for hand-space like NASCAR sponsors. 

We’d imagine that at least a few hardcore deals went down to bring these gloves to the public, but (as always) we ask only one question:  “Are they worth a crap in the shop?”  There’s only one way to find out, so we put ‘em to the test.  Read on past the jump for our experiences and lots of pics.

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Contractor work often requires that you live life on your knees – literally.  This means constant pressure on your knees from hard surfaces like flooring or concrete, which can leave you hobbling — unless you have a set of good hardshelled knee pads like McGuire Nicholas’ Gel Lites.

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DeWalt recently released a whole slew of heavily-branded shoes intended for various work tasks.  Our favorite: the “High Performance Lightweight Oxford” in black (pictured).  It reminds us more of a Timberland hiking shoe than what appears in our minds when we think “work shoe,” but kudos to DeWalt for offering something a little different.

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We’ve in the shop all year round.  Since the shop isn’t heated, our fingers generally feel like icicles during the cold months.  Maybe this year we’ll try out Revco’s Cold Snap line of insulated mechanics gloves.

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Despite owning tool belts and tool aprons, for some reason my tools always seem to end up in my back pocket, inevitably poking holes through my jeans and into my bum.  Duluth’s Rump Guard looks like a possible solution.  Think of it as a bullet-proof pocket protector for your ass: it’s made from denim and Kevlar – a 73% cotton / 21% polyester / 6% Kevlar blend.

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If you haven’t checked out the comment thread on yesterday’s reader question post about latex gloves, you should.  There’s some great info there that’s made me re-think how I use gloves in the shop.

Specifically, while there’s been no sure-fire confirmation of the concept of petrolium causing latex allergies, it does seem obvious from comments that latex gloves are much more permeable than they might seem.  I use them to avoid grinding grit into my fingernails and skin, and they work fine for that.  But some readers have posted sources for nitrile gloves at about the same price, so I think I’ll switch.

Also, readers KMR and Stuey recommend this interesting site which sells a ton of different glove types and hosts a chart showing which type of gloves are resistant to which chemicals.  Good stuff!